Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a structural cable. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a structural cable, capable of maintaining form, that typically contains multiple collinear wires or conductors formed together with a structural element that provides rigidity to the assembly in at least one direction in a least a portion of the wire.
Description of Related Art
Traditional cables, such as component cables, USB cables, or HDMI cables are easy to manipulate with human hands for connecting with appropriate connectors that are disposed on different structures or devices. However, the installation of these cables is difficult to automate. The cables lack sufficient structural integrity and rigidity to be easily picked up, moved, and placed by a robotic arm. Further, because traditional cables are not rigid, they may not be easily formed into different shapes and routed to a pre-determined location amidst tight spatial constraints. Routing traditional, flexible cables during manufacturing, for example to connect different components during automobile manufacturing, typically cannot be automated and therefore require humans to place by hand. Such manual placement is time consuming, tedious, and costly. In addition, while certain traditional cables, like USB Type-C cables are designed to serve multiple purposes (such as power transmission, data, and video over a single cable), specific applications may not require the transfer of all three types of information.
Hence, there is a need for a structural cable that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.